WA continues to provide incident managers and frontline firefighters to Queensland Ten bushfire incident management experts from Western Australia have been deployed to Queensland this morning to assist in battling multiple fires across the State. The five officers from the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions' Parks and Wildlife Service and five from the Department of Fire and Emergency Services are highly skilled and experienced in a variety of incident management roles, including incident control, planning, logistics, operations and public information. This adds to the 28 DFES career and volunteer firefighters that arrived in Queensland yesterday to bolster frontline firefighting efforts.

Nine volunteer groups will benefit from almost $260,000 in funding under the second round of the Community Rivercare Program. Round two funding will go towards weed control and foreshore restoration projects within the Swan Canning Catchment. The Armadale Gosnells Landcare Group and the South East Regional Centre for Urban Landcare will receive funding under the program to engage with the local community to extend the ecological corridor along the Canning River, providing habitat for native birds and aquatic species. Grant projects that will receive funding in round two include: Canning River foreshore restoration; Rehabilitation of the Canning River; Revegetation of the Helena River foreshore; Lesmurdie Brook weed control and rehabilitation; Melville Beach Road foreshore restoration; Wright Brook river catchment restoration project; Jarrah…

A 45-year-old Japanese man has been charged after he was intercepted at Perth International Airport allegedly attempting to smuggle six native bobtail lizards out of Australia. Acting on a information from Western Australia’s Parks and Wildlife Service, Australia Border Force (ABF) officers identified the man and carried out a full baggage examination as he attempted to catch a flight to Hong Kong yesterday (November 8, 2018). It will be alleged an x-ray of his check-in suitcase revealed the six bobtail lizards wrapped in paper towel and tightly packed inside a cloth bag. It will be further alleged that three of the lizards were taken from Rottnest Island, one from the Midwest region and two from the Perth metropolitan area, and that some had been kept…

The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) is calling on volunteers to help protect Western Australia’s dolphins, water birds and other marine life. The department’s Reel it in fishing line bin project has now expanded to include marine parks with three new bins installed in Marmion Marine Park. DBCA volunteers and community unit manager Jason Menzies said this was the project launched in 2013 to help reduce fishing line entanglements in the Swan Canning Riverpark. “It is exciting to see the project expand to include marine parks which are home to some of WA’s most spectacular marine life.” Mr Menzies said. “These three new bins are located at popular fishing spots Hillarys Boat Harbour and North Beach Jetty. “The project is supported by so…

A new vessel has today been named after the late Doug Coughran, a Western Australian wildlife officer who dedicated much of his life to developing whale rescue techniques that have been instrumental in improving outcomes for entangled whales. These techniques pioneered by Doug are not only practised in WA but around the world. In 2010, Doug's achievements over three decades were formally recognised when he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for his services to conservation and the environment, particularly the disentanglement of whales, as both a practitioner and educator. The 10.5-metre vessel will replace three boats currently used by the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, and will be tasked with responding to marine mammal incidents, managing the commercial whale watching…